Allen applauds PM for supporting agriculture

FORMER Agriculture and Livestock Minister Benny Allen has applauded Prime Minister James Marape for expressing support to the US$600 million (K2.03 billion) Papua New Guinea (PNG)-China Integrated Agriculture Park Project.
“The park project will be the best thing to ever happen to PNG’s agriculture. It is good to see Marape recognising the need to lift the country’s agriculture sector to greater heights.
“I want to thank the prime minister for supporting and looking at the agriculture park project positively. I am delighted that he has made agriculture one of his top priorities.”
Marape had told The National in an exclusive interview in mid-May that he supported the project “if it follows proper economic rationale”.
The full interview was published on Friday, a day after Marape was elected in Parliament as PNG’s 8th prime minister.
Marape said: “I have issues (only) when there are no direct returns on investments to our country. It then becomes a project that is for the convenience of sponsors of the project.”
The parks, to be located at Korofeigu in Eastern Highlands and Highlands’ Agriculture Training Institute (HATI) in Western Highlands, will be funded under China’s Belt Road Initiative.
“The projects at Korofeigu and HATI are noble projects with great intentions. Everyone in Cabinet and Government know the intentions of this project.
“I will support the project as long as it pays dividends to our people.
“The project is a goer, so long as I can see, visibly, our people earning money in five to 10 years’ time and it’s not just another ‘ghost project’,” he added.
Allen said the major problems farmers were facing were the lack of value chain activities and market access.
“The park project will transform the lives of many farmers because it’s a one-stop shop market. We are talking about a project for all commodities including fruits, vegetables, coffee, cocoa and copra,” he said.
“It is also about adding value through downstream processing. This is something lacking in the agriculture sector for many, many years,” he said, adding that the prime minister’s vision for agriculture was a huge step in the right direction.”
Allen said he also wanted the Fresh Produce Development Agency to set up cooling facilities for farmers with the K85 million funding it was receiving from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
He said the IFAD funding was geared to help farmers and cooling facilities should be set up in Mt Hagen, Goroka, Lae and Port Moresby.